Step 1: Make the Part

From the above screenshot, you can see that her hair is parted above her left eye. Most of her hair is to the right that part, and we want the wig to do the same.

So take your wig, put it on the wig head, and use the quilter pins to pin it in place. It doesn’t have to be quilter pins, I just find them easier to locate and take out later. I usually use about five pins altogether, putting them along the hair line and at the top of the head.

With that done, put the wig head on the wig clamp. Don’t have one? Bribe a friend to hold it for you! (I find cookies to be a suitable bribe.)

Remember when you’re parting the wig that these are wefts, not regular hair. You /can’t/ just part it however you want. Choose your wefts to part carefully so you don’t see through to the wig head underneath!

Step 2: Heat Training

Once it’s parted, you’ll notice the wig is sort of fighting the way you’ve parted it. You can use quilter pins again to guide the bangs in particular for our next step: heat training.

First, put a paper towel and a large plastic bag, both lying flat with the towel on top, underneath the wig clamp. This will make cleanup easier when you let the wig drip dry.

Find that big clean sink I told you about and turn on the hot water. As hot as you can stand it just in case you can get your hands into it. Once that water is hot, grab the wig head and angle it under the water so it’s running over the wig in the direction you want it parted.

It’s okay if water runs over other areas of the wig so long as it’s going in a direction you want to it to go in. With this wig, that’s not a big concern because of how it’s already wefted.

I did this for about ten minutes before I returned the wig head to the clamp. Tilt the clamp post so the hair is still angled the way you want it parted and let it drip dry.

I’m sure other people do other things here, and I’m sure they’re effective. So if you see another tutorial that suggests another method, go for it!

Step 3: Seal the Deal

So now it’s dry! But let’s be real, you’re going to be at a con in this wig. You’re going to be running around all day, not a stationary wig head. Luckily.

So break out that light hold! I suggest Aussie brand (pictured below) because it smells good. I mean it, a lot of other brands are downright poisonous in how they smell.

Back to the tutorial! Holding it a few inches away, spray a thin coat of the hold over the bangs. Smooth it out over the wefts with your hands so it’s an even layer. If you’re me and don’t use gloves, rinse the spray off your hands.

Heads up: Light hold will wear off after a while.

That’s the price you pay for the more natural look it leaves on your wig. So if you go with light hold, touch it up just before you go to a convention. You did heat train it, after all, so the general style is still there.

Now, you can use heavy hold if you prefer to never ever apply it again. I personally just don’t like the way it makes the wig look. This one’s a matter of preference, nothing more!

Step 4: Cut

The scariest step for most people, understandably. Here’s your rule: always cut longer than you think you need. You can take more off, but you can’t undo that last cut.

Before Trimming

It’s really important to get your wig cap on, secure it and the wig with bobby pins, and basically treat it like you’re going to wear this wig to the con right now.

The way you cut it is based on how it sits on your head, so getting the results you want relies on making sure that wig doesn’t move around on you.

And if you prefer, you can clip the hair you aren’t presently cutting off to the side. I didn’t, but this isn’t the first wig I’ve cut either.

It’s the second.

ANYWAY

The first cuts are for length. Trim the bangs above your eyes and the wefts on your left, since that’s where her hair is thinnest. Because of her hair style, I recommend trimming the wig with cuts at a slight angle. It fits with the rest of the wig better and looks far less obvious.

How you cut exactly will depend on how the wig sits on your head and what you’re going for. For example, I cut the left side of her hair a little long because I have brown hair and the wig being longer helps me cover any stray hairs that escape the wig cap over the course of the day.

The second phase of cutting is to give the hair a feathered look, giving a more natural appearance than a straight line cut.

To do this, you will cut the wefts vertically instead of horizontally, meaning the scissors will be parallel to the wig fibers instead of perpendicular.

Cut just the ends of the wig fibers you cut this way, and this will further help the trimmed areas to blend.